Italian researchers are calling attention to what they say is an alarming number of newly diagnosed cases of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in people treated with the human monoclonal antibody Cosentyx (secukinumab).
Their report was published in an open letter to the editor in the The American Journal of Gastroenterology, titled "New Onset of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Three Patients Undergoing IL-17A Inhibitor Secukinumab: A Case Series.”
Cosentyx, developed by Novartis, is a human neutralizing antibody directed against the pro-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-17A. It is widely prescribed to people with dermatological and rheumatological diseases, including psoriasis, ankylosing spondylitis, and psoriatic arthritis.
However, “in the past 6 months five patients were referred to our IBD ambulatory for evaluation of abdominal pain and diarrhea after receiving secukinumab; three of them were diagnosed with IBD,” write the researchers from Molinette Hospital, University of Turin, in Italy.
The first case involved a 27-year-old woman diagnosed with plaque psoriasis, the most common form of the autoimmune disease that affects the skin.
She developed bloody diarrhea after 12 months on Cosentyx for plaque psoriasis, after she failed to respond to previous treatment with AbbVie's Humira (adalimumab) and Pfizer's Enbrel (etanercept).
A colonoscopy revealed active inflammation in the colon accompanied by crypt distortion and abscess.
The patient stopped Cosentyx and was successfully treated for three months with intravenous (into the blood) steroids. She relapsed and was then diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC). In the meantime, her psoriasis worsened, and clinicians now plan to begin treatment with Janssen's Stelara (ustekinumab).
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